What is time?

Time doesn't seem real anymore. After today, I will have 9 more days of work. There are 3 weekends left in Zambia. This weekend is the Dutch Reform Market, maybe a trip to Sugarbush to buy a grown-up purse, maybe a leaving braai for yet one more person leaving the country. Then I have 5 days of work to get thoughts and some details organized for a project that will be taken over by another volunteer in a couple of weeks. That weekend of the 8th will be a party at the boss's house with ambiguous intentions of being either for my birthday or leaving. The week after that is 4 days at WorldFish wrapping up my paper and a few random projects. The 13th is my last day. The 14th is the 50th Peace Corps anniversary celebration for PCZambia. The following weekend is a possibility of a quick trip to somewhere around Zambia. Then the last week: medical and wrapping up Peace Corps stuff. Time will FLY. I feel pretty good about leaving. I, however, am not really letting myself deal with the emotions of leaving and find I am moody and impatient, that could be from the coffee I started drinking though.

Things I have left to do:

• Mail stuff home that I don't want to lug to Europe
• Sell items from around the house, anyone interested in: a tent, a zero degree sleeping bag, a 30 degree sleeping back, an almost new pack, and maybe a couple more items that I haven't yet decided on?
• Go chitenge shopping
• Sort through the rest of my items to find things to trade at the market for trinkets
• Write my COS report
• Get the last of my clothes from the tailor
• Pack

It doesn't really seem like all that much to do in 3 weeks but there is something to keep in mind, things take much longer here than they would back home and that much longer without having wheels of my own. Also, there are some hidden tasks that will invariably come to light.

In the mean time I am spending as much time as possible with friends, eating lots of nshima, and pretending that I am not leaving in 3 weeks.